Utah forecast: Wind, rain or snow, it's still spring

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Utah's cold, wet forecast for the waning week might have spurred Ernest Hemingway to remind that, "When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest."

With a Winter Weather Advisory in place until shortly before midnight Thursday, the mix of wind, rain, snow, clouds and promise of creeping sunshine made the Beehive State's weather A Moveable Feast.

A section of northern Utah from Logan stretching south through Ogden, Salt Lake City, Provo and Nephi and east into the Uintas looked for up to 10 inches of snow in the mountains and 2 to 5 in the valleys on Thursday. Winds of 20-30 mph, with gusts to 50 mph along the ridgetops, also were on the climatological menu.

The Utah Department of Transportation warned those conditions will bring snowpacked and, later, slushy travel, especially to Interstate 80 over Parleys Summit, Highway 89 over the Sardine and Logan summits, and I-80 east of Evanston, Wyo. Challenging driving conditions also were expected on I-84 and Highway 40.

Indeed, the Thursday morning commute became a bumper-to-bumper nightmare for motorists trying to make it into the Salt Lake Valley from Parleys Summit as snow clogged I-80. At one point, UDOT was requiring trucks to stop and install tire chains on the freeway's eastern lanes.

Still, the Wasatch Front's forecast for Friday called for conditions to improve as cloud cover eased and precipitation exited the region. High temperatures were to be in the low-60s, up about 10 degrees from Thursday.

Southern Utahns, however, could render a sympathetic, albeit smug, smile or two for their northern neighbors. Utah's Dixie looks for partly cloudy horizons and highs in the low-70s on Friday, warmer by 10 degrees from Thursday's partly cloudy, but pleasant weather.

Eastbound I-80 is restricted to chains for all semis until further notice.

 The Utah Department of Transportation

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